91��ɫ Centre for Research on Work & Society Archives | Research & Innovation

Four Canada Research Chairs renewed at 91��ɫ for $5.6 million

fmaquito — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Four professors at 91��ɫ had their Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) renewed by the federal government yesterday, bringing $5.6 million to invest in their research at the University.

Tier 1 CRCs were renewed for professors ,�� and . Professor was awarded an Advancement Chair, taking her from a Tier 2 to a Tier 1 CRC. Each Tier 1 CRC attracts $200,000 annually in federal funding, over a seven-year period, for a total of $1.4 million per chair.

The funding will allow Flett, Hessels, Tsotsos and Vosko to continue their respective research in personality and health, computational vision, atomic physics, and the political economy of gender and work.

“Federal government investment in research is crucial for Canadian universities because we are competing with the rest of the world to attract top researchers,” said Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation at 91��ɫ. “Through these investments, researchers at 91��ɫ are able to contribute significantly to new discoveries, public policy and economic development, and national and international dialogue across the full range of disciplines.”

91��ɫ’s renewals were part of $275.6 million announced by Tony Clement, federal minister of Industry,��to fund 310 new or renewed CRCs at 53 Canadian universities. “The Harper government is continuing its longstanding commitment to invest in science and technology to create jobs, strengthen the economy and improve the quality of life of Canadians,” said Clement. “For the past 10 years, the Canada Research Chairs Program has brought breakthroughs in clean energy, the control of infectious disease, business management, and digital technologies.This funding will help strengthen Canada’s capacity for leading-edge research while, at the same time, building economic opportunities for Canadians.”

Clement made the announcement at the start of a conference to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the CRC program. The conference, which began yesterday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, continues today. Vosko took part in the “Thinking Ahead: A look at what the future holds for Canada” panel discussion on Wednesday. 91��ɫ Professor (right), Canada Research Chair in Art, Digital Media & Globalization, will participate in today's Art, Technology and Society panel.

91��ɫ has 28 research chairs, including the four renewals announced yesterday. Here are details on the work of the four:

Gordon Flett (left), CRC in Personality and Health (Tier 1), examines personality as the key to many health problems stemming from chronic stress exposure. Certain aspects of the personality trait of perfectionism can be particularly harmful. His team studies risk and resilience factors across the lifespan. He and Paul Hewitt co-developed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, a model reconstruction of both the personal and interpersonal components of perfectionism. Research based on the model has firmly established that perfectionism has personal and interpersonal components and is associated with various forms of maladjustment, including health problems, depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies. His research agenda also explores the relationship between perfectionism and psychological disorders, including eating disorders, postpartum depression and recovery from physical illnesses. A professor of psychology, Flett is associate dean, research and graduate education, in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health.

Eric Hessels (right), CRC in Atomic Physics (Tier 1), is researching the difference between matter and antimatter. His 91��ɫ team is working with researchers from Harvard University on a method to trap the antiatoms long enough to conduct experiments. This work is being done in conjunction with the international ATRAP (Antihydrogen Trap) collaboration. Hessels’ research also involves measuring the energies and orbits of helium atoms to provide the most accurate measurement of the “fine structure constant,” which determines the strength of electric and magnetic forces between charged objects. He is a Distinguished Research Professor of Physics at 91��ɫ.

John Tsotsos (left), CRC in Computational Vision (Tier 1), integrates the fields of visual psychology, computer vision, robotics and visual neuroscience to investigate new models of human visual mechanisms and how they may lead to intelligent seeing machines. His research falls into three main themes: visual attention in humans and computer systems, visually guided mobile robotics, and computer vision. He designed the first computerized motion recognition system, used in cardiology, and developed the Selective Tuning Model for visual attention, widely considered the leading model for consolidating current understanding of the process of visual attention. He has also designed an intelligent, visually guided wheelchair intended for physically disabled children. A past director of 91��ɫ’s internationally recognized , Tsotsos is the Distinguished Research Professor of Vision Science in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at 91��ɫ.

Leah F. Vosko (right), CRC in the Political Economy of Gender and Work, examines the contours of precarious employment to foster new statistical, legal, political and economic understandings of this phenomenon. Two of the chair’s principal projects involve constructing a research database on gender, work and labour market insecurity in Canada in comparative perspective — the — and overseeing a research alliance comprised of community and university researchers studying employment standards modernization in Canada and internationally. A professor of political science and a co-director of 91��ɫ’s Centre for Research on Work and Society, Vosko also teaches and supervises students in women’s studies, sociology, public policy administration and law, socio-legal studies, social and political thought, health equity, and communications & culture. Her most recent book, Managing the Margins: Gender, Citizenship and the International Regulation of Precarious Employment, was published earlier this year by Oxford University Press, UK.

By Janice Walls, media relations officer. Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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Centre for Research on Work & Society's Just Labour Journal examines challenges facing workers

fmaquito — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:00:00 +0000

The latest issue of the online journal is now available. The journal, which was launched in 2002, is an initiative of 91��ɫ’s Centre for Research on Work & Society (CRWS). Just Labour – which seeks to explore issues related to the volatile transformation of the Canadian workplace – is directed at a readership of academics, trade unionists, community activists, researchers, policy makers and students.

This issue of includes articles that examine the changing nature of work, as well as strategies designed to improve working conditions in the contemporary context of employment insecurity. Contributors provide insight into new developments in labour law, advocacy programs for women workers in male-dominated workplaces and the potential to counter precarious employment through worker cooperatives.

Among the contributors are University of Victoria law Professor Judy Fudge; Athabasca University labour studies Professor Bob Barnetson; Laval University labour relations Professor Anthony Gould; Julia Woodhall, a sociology PhD student at the University of Waterloo,��and Belinda Leach, a professor of sociology and anthropology at the University of Guelph; and Amanda Wilson, a PhD student in sociology at Carleton University.

CRWS was established in 1990 to address issues facing workers arising from the volatile transformation of the Canadian workplace. Just Labour, which was launched in 2002, reflects this tradition as the journal’s readers and contributors bridge both the academic and union research communities.

Just Labour’s contributors explore the complex ways new technologies, subcontracting, new management strategies and self-employment are undermining traditional employee-employer relationships. Its mandate includes investigating how union action is challenged by the international integration of capital, the proliferation of precarious employment and the increasingly anti-union practices of employers and the state.

The editorial committee, led by , editor-in-chief and CRWS director, looks for articles that address the culture and activities of Canadian workers and their unions as they face new challenges, and that bring the work of leading academics and trade union researchers to a broad readership in popular, accessible language.

Read the latest issue or see submission guidelines at , or get more information on CRWS at the Centre for Research on Work & Society website.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Centre for Research on Work & Society's conference examining changing nature of work in global economy starts today

fmaquito — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 08:00:00 +0000

The changing nature of work in the global economy, modern labour movements, challenges faced by workers and their organizations, as well as forms of collective action undertaken to resist neo-liberalism – all of this will be explored at an upcoming conference, New Voices in Labour Studies 2010: Emerging Perspectives on Workers and Workplaces.

The conference will take place Friday, Oct. 15 and Saturday, Oct. 16, from 8:30am to 5:30pm in the 91��ɫ Research Tower, Keele campus. It is presented by 91��ɫ’s Work & Labour Studies Program, the 91��ɫ Centre for Research on Work & Society, Ryerson University and the Labour College of Canada.

This interdisciplinary, two-day conference will include research on contemporary issues, papers that place these subjects in historical perspective, and thematic panels and workshops on teaching and researching in the field of labour studies.

This is the fourth year for the conference – the first in Toronto – where junior scholars in the field present their work and meet other emerging voices in labour studies, as well as interact with more senior scholars who serve as commentators on the panels.

“This conference showcases the labour studies community’s continuing vibrancy and impressive national reach,” says Professor Stephanie Ross, coordinator of 91��ɫ’s Work & Labour Studies Program. “Across Canada, labour studies attract researchers who combine rigorous cutting edge scholarship with a capacity to speak to the real and pressing challenges we face in our working lives. Anyone with an interest in how to make work and the economy more socially just will take a lot from this conference.”

The conference is sponsored at 91��ɫ by the Office of the Dean in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, the Graduate Program in Social & Political Thought, and the Department of Geography, and at Ryerson by the Department of History, the Dean’s Office in the Faculty of Arts, the Office of the Vice-President of Research & Innovation, and the Centre for Labour-Management Relations. In addition, the Canadian Labour Congress’s Labour College of Canada has also provided much-appreciated support.

For more information, visit the Centre for Research on Work & Society or contact Stephanie Ross at stephr@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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New book explores the impact of the new economy on work

fmaquito — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +0000

A new book co-edited by 91��ɫ Professors Norene Pupo and Mark Thomas will receive its official launch Thursday, March 25 at a special reception from 3 to 5pm in 626 91��ɫ Research Tower.

is a collection of original essays investigating the social, political and economic transformations associated with the emergence of the so-called new economy, and their impact on the organization of work within Canada.

The essays discuss the ways in which new management strategies, new communication technologies and efforts to revitalize the labour movement have transformed the Canadian workplace. Focusing on changes in work organization, individuals’ expectations regarding work and the institutional support provided for workers and their families, the text constructs a critical analysis of the "new economy" in order to identify both the potential for quality work experiences and the ways in which the organization of work remains a profound social problem.

Based on years of participatory research, sector-specific studies, and quantitative and qualitative data collection, the work accounts for the ways in which the contemporary workplace has changed, but also the extent to which older forms of work organization still remain.

The collection begins with an overview of the key social and economic transformations that define the new economy. It then illustrates these transformations through examples, including essays on call centre service work and migrant workers. It also addresses unions and their responses to the restructuring of work, as well as other forms of resistance.

Pupo is the director of the Centre for Research on Work & Society at 91��ɫ and a sociology professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS). She is the co-author of .

Thomas is also a professor of sociology in LA& PS at 91��ɫ. He is the author of .

The event will include a panel of speakers discussing some of the book's themes. Participating on the panel are: 91��ɫ political science Professor Greg Albo; 91��ɫ geography Professor Steve Tufts; Ryerson sociology Professor Andie Noack; 91��ɫ social science and women’s studies Professor Linda Briskin; Naveen Mehta, director of human rights, equity & diversity for the United Food and Commercial Workers; Angelo DiCaro, national communications representative for the Canadian Auto Workers union; Ryerson sociology Professor Alan Sears; and Jorge Garcia-Orgales, a researcher with the United Steelworkers Canadian office.

For more information about the launch, contact Robin Smith, administrator at the Centre for Research on Work & Society, at 416-736-5612.

The launch of Interrogating the New Economy: Restructuring Work in the 21st Century is co-sponsored by the University of Toronto Press and the following 91��ɫ programs and units: the Centre for Research on Work & Society, the Department of Sociology, the Graduate Program in Sociology, Graduate Program in Social & Political Thought, Graduate Program in Women’s Studies, the Labour Studies Program, Gender & Work Database, Centre for Feminist Research and the 91��ɫ Staff Association.

Republished with files courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Centre for Public Policy & Law hosts policy dialogue on competing human rights

fmaquito — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Over the last decade, the concept of human rights has taken on increasing complexity in nations around the world, in large part because of the way it is viewed. There are times when to acknowledge the rights of one individual or group directly affects the access to human rights of another.

Such competing human rights can play out in many places, from the University classroom to the international stage, where groups actively promote a particular view of rights recognition that may hinder access to rights of others within the community. How do groups, organizations, governments, human rights commissions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academics approach this multi-faceted issue?

That question was at the heart of a two-day policy dialogue held at 91��ɫ last weekend. "Towards a Framework to Address Competing Rights Claims" is a partnership between the , the and the Centre for Human Rights at 91��ɫ. It brought academics, activists, representatives from human rights commissions from across Canada, non-governmental organizations, governments and special interest groups to 91��ɫ where they talked openly about the sometimes thorny issue of competing human rights.

91��ɫ Professor Lesley Jacobs (left), director of the 91��ɫ Centre for Public Policy & Law, served as the dialogue's organizer along with Professor Lorne Foster, director of 91��ɫ's Graduate Program in Public Policy, Administration & Law Program. Jacobs, a professor of law & society and political science, has long had an active research interest in competing human rights. "In the last 5 to 10 years, increasingly in Canada there has been a perception that rights conflicts and human rights commissions have been struggling with competing human rights," says Jacobs. "There have been trade-offs between free speech and rights, and concerns about hate or defamation or discriminatory speech. Issues that come to mind include the debate over same sex marriage, religious freedom and disability rights."

The surprising thing in Canada is that the country's human rights commissions, many of which have existed for 40 or 50 years, do not have policies on conflicting rights, says Jacobs. "So when the Ontario Human Rights Commission approached us [the 91��ɫ Centre for Public Policy & Law] to develop a policy dialogue on competing human rights, we saw an opportunity to bring together different stakeholders who could work together to lay the groundwork for the development of future policies on competing human rights."

Human rights are based in the values that societies live by and these values can be different between one society and another, says Jacobs. "A student may need a Seeing Eye dog to assist him with getting around the university. However, what about the student who has a severe allergy to dogs who sits in the same classroom? Both individuals have rights and these rights compete."

How society deals with such competing human rights will be the core of many future conversations, says Jacobs.

The policy dialogue, while closed to the community, was broadcast on a large format LCD screen in the Vari Hall Lecture Hall D on Friday, March 5 and Saturday, March 6. For Jacobs, the broadcast offered a wonderful opportunity for students, faculty and staff to watch and learn about competing human rights and the power of open dialogue to create policy.

"The vision we had when developing this conference was to bring leading stakeholders from a wide range of affected communities – faith communities, persons with disabilities, minority groups, same sex rights, all sorts of NGOs and civil society organizations – together with academics who work on rights conflicts from a wide range of perspectives, human rights lawyers and people from human rights commissions across the country to talk about competing human rights," says Jacobs.

The dialogue examined a host of different topics. The first day's session began with a discussion of the philosophical approaches to competing rights and participants and then moved on to discuss the legal frameworks of human rights, what a conflict is and how it can be resolved and competing rights in context. They finished the day with a discussion of creed and competing rights.

On Saturday, participants discussed the competing legal perspectives on competing rights, the social policy approach to competing human rights and the different societal perspectives, and the media's role in competing rights policy. The final session brought all of the discussions together to amass a potential framework for policy on competing human rights. The full program and session abstracts are available as an online PDF on the Web site.

Final outcomes of the two-day dialogue include a future publication of the different papers and perspectives presented, and Jacobs hopes the dialogue will also mark the start of a series of events developed with a goal to create future policies on competing human rights.

For more information on the , the Centre for Human Rights and the , visit their Web sites.

Additional support for this two-day dialogue was provided by the 91��ɫ Centre for Research on Work & Society, the Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies, the Office of the Provost and the Law Foundation of Ontario.

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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